After Yankee's thread about Honey lollipops, I thought I would give Honey Cough Drops a try. A search on line led me to several recipes, so I combined several and did my own thing.
I used:
1 cup honey
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 cup brewed Echinacea Plus tea with Elderberry
lemon extract
cornstarch
candy thermometer
2 qt. saucepan
wooden spoon or something to stir with that can take high heat
parchment paper
sheet pan with sides
After brewing the tea, add 1/2 cup along with honey into sauce pan. Heat on medium heat, stirring. After the honey/tea starts to simmer add the lemon juice. Continue to boil, still stirring. This will take quite a while as you are reducing down the liquid. Using the candy thermometer, heat the mix anywhere between 260 degrees to 300 degrees. I heated to 280 degrees, a happy medium. Remove from heat and stir in about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of lemon extract. I then stirred to eliminate bubbles and then quickly poured on to sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Let cool until the substance and be worked with your hands. Roll into cough drop size balls and then coat with corn starch. I had about a spoonful of cornstarch in a small bowl and rolled the balls in the cornstarch. Place on a plate. I got about 25 cough drops of various sizes. I placed the plate inside a Ziploc bag and refrigerated. They are supposed to last six months.
As with making candy, heating to 300 degrees will result in a brittle "candy" that you will probably have the consistency of peanut brittle. Heating only to 260 degrees will achieve a very soft candy. That's why I chose to heat to 280 degrees.
As no one has a sore throat here, so I can't tell you the healing properties of the cough drops. I will say they made pretty tasty candy that will pull the fillings out of your teeth!
